Yessir it’s that time of year, and by ” that ” I mean the best. You got spring training wrapping up ( Word to Shelly Duncan and his spikes high slide ) and opening day just a couple weeks away. Then theres the NBA season coming to an end ( Talk about madness, how are the Rockets winning 22 straight, more on that in another post ) and whats shaping up to be one of the craziest most competitive playoffs in years if not ever, especially out West. Finally you got the best/ most exciting sporting event ever created the NCAA tournament aka The Big Dance bka March Madness.

Like most years some of the maddest moments actually happen the weekend before the big tournament in the conference tourneys. There is almost always a couple teams that surprise and turn their season around by winning 3 or 4 straight games when everyone was counting them dead and buried already, but of course not all players/teams get the memo. Teams like Temple ( A-10 ) Boise State ( No statue of liberty play they just needed triple OT to win in one of if not the most exciting game of the weekend ) and Georgia ( who won 3 games in 2 days because of a weather delay, seriously that’s some madness a weather delay in basketball ) managed to steal tournament spots from a couple teams living on the proverbial bubble. No one expected these teams to get into the Big Dance let alone watch the Georgia Bulldogs thinking they were playing baseball with Ernie Banks, on some ” let’s play two ” shit, but thats part of the beauty of College basketball in March.

The other part that makes this tournament so great is the brackets to be filled out by millions of people around the country and of course the millions of dollars that is up for grabs. ( not that we at Alumnah.com condone gambling, but then again everyone seems to make an exception for this tourney ) Now I’m not bragging or nothing but I have a knack for for winning these pools. OK so last year not so much but that’s because the favorites just kept on winning way more than normal and I tend to pick plenty of upsets and usually thats the only way to win these things you must get lucky and hit a couple upsets others don’t have. Sure anyone can just advance the # 1 and # 2 seeds until they meet but not only do they all rarely meet, it’s also boring where’s the fun in just riding with the favorites, if thats the lane you choose your missing out on the real Madness.

Now hows my bracket gonna look right now, well your guess is as good as mine. I’ve only filled out 1 bracket so far, so that means I only got like 72 more to go before my picks are set. I tend to fill out my brackets over and over agai, sometimes just off gut reaction sometimes taking match-ups into more consideration and then starring at all of them until I decide which one looks the best. So needless to say you won’t be getting my picks until Wed. but for now I’ll give you a couple teams to pay close attention to and who could add to the madness. Now just to clarify just cause I mention a team doesn’t mean I’m a pick them even to win one game. Theres a couple teams I liked as sleepers before the seeding were laid out but I just don’t like their match-ups. A couple other semi-common knowledge tips when searching for upsets take some risks but don’t be stupid, that means no picking a # 16 or # 15 seed to advance. It has never happened for a # 16 and very rarely happen for a 15. Also don’t go crazy and pick them all, picking a team to get upset early just to watch them advance to the final four will kill your bracket, but keep in mind the # 9, # 11 and the # 12 seeds tend to win most of the upsets in at least the first round and usually a couple can advance past that.

TEAMS MOST MIGHT BE UNDERRATING BUT SHOULDN’T

Winthrop - Strong Senior leadership, combined with plenty of experience as they have been here before and play great solid Defense. The key is Michael Jenkins as when he gets going they are hard to stop ( they have a tough draw with Washington St. but are the lowest seed with the best chance at an upset )

South Alabama and Butler - I didn’t think Butler would need to be put here, after all with all their Senior leadership and experience and them being ranked # 10 overall in the polls you would think they would be higher than a # 7 seed, but apparently the committee didn’t see enough of them over the years. Now South Alabama lost in their conference tourney but did enough in the regular season to get the committee attention. Unfortunitly they play each other in the first round and they both can’t advance. Butler should win this though.

Clemson - A # 5 seed might not seem like a sleeper but with the way they play Defense and trap people I think they could shock most people and possibly beat # 1 Kansas, who some people are picking to win it all. ( apparently these people haven’t been paying attention to Kansas always underachieving in the tournament. )

Kansas St. - My guess is they lose the first round game to USC, but with a player as good as Beasley you have to pay attention and take them seriously as he is good enough to carry a team himself. ( see Carmelo Anthony a few years back )

Davidson - Lost but just barely lost to UNC, Duke and UCLA and with the play of PG Jason Richards and scorer Stephen Curry I am most definitely picking them to beat Gonzag, they would then play Georgetown in the next round so I doubt I’ll be picking them to go much further but G-Town better take them seriously.

St. Mary’s - Trust the are better than you think and more importantly they play Miami, a team admittedly I haven’t watched too much but I have trouble having confidence in picking Miami, and is 1 of 2 # 10 seeds I expect to advance.

Drake - The Bulldogs play great defense ( you see a theme forming here ? ) and have some great 3 point shooters, teams that live and die by the 3 tend not to advance all the way because all it takes is 1 off game to get bounced but 2 wins or 3 wins is totally reasonable, they do have a tough first round and potential second round match up but I like them to beat both Western Kentucky and # 4 Uconn )

Those are just some of the teams most people probably aren’t focused on but should be, now again don’t go crazy and pick these teams to run the table as there are only a couple teams that can realistically win it all but in my mind this years tourney has one team to who should win it all and for that just check out the player below.

FOR BRACKETS IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE TO FIND THEM CHECK HERE

http://www.ncaa.com/uploadedFiles/Sports/Basketball_(M)/2008D1MensBasketballBracket.pdf